Australification*

(*new word. I'm coining it right now.)

So after 8 months in Australia (to the day today), I feel my myself becoming Australified. Maybe it's the fact this country is so far removed from the rest of the world. Maybe because it's isolated as a Western, English speaking country but geographically located closer to South East Asia. Maybe it's because it is +16 hours (during Summer) to East Coast US time. Whatever the reason, things move at a different pace here and I am finding myself more and more caught up in the flow.

Some observations of this phenomenon:

• Not getting internet memes: What is this? Is this what the kids are into nowadays?
• Accepting high prices: Things are often 50-100% more expensive here, given the parity of the AUD to USD. When I first got here, I had sticker shock. Now it's more like sticker 'meh'.
• Being out of the loop: Other than sports, I have no idea what is happening in the news nowadays. Don't know when/if Jerry Brown got sworn in (did he even win?). Didn't know about Ke$ha's new album (it's amazeballs, by the way). And I'm still confused why everyone is talking about snow days, ski trips, and blizzards in the middle of summer.